Movement

The last twelve months have seen all kinds of hellzapoppin’ for BLDGBLOG, from the move out to Los Angeles to the BLDGBLOG book, to a wide variety of other things, including Postopolis!; but the movement isn’t over… In just two months’ time I’ll be moving up to San Francisco to become a Senior Editor at Dwell magazine.

The job itself looks awesome – and a lot of fun – and it’s in a great office, near the Transamerica Pyramid, only one block away from an architecture bookstore, and I’ll have some really cool co-workers, and a great boss with good taste in German beer, and I’ll even be near my publisher during the book design process, so I’m excited. I can go for walks in the Muir Woods! And look at the Golden Gate Bridge and walk across the hulls of abandoned 19th-century frigates. A few quick things:

1) BLDGBLOG will continue – in fact, I’m using the entirety of this week to finish up all other freelance commitments, leaving just BLDGBLOG, the BLDGBLOG book, and Dwell. So BLDGBLOG isn’t going anywhere. 2) This doesn’t mean that Dwell will suddenly turn into BLDGBLOG, or vice versa. Dwell, as far as I’m aware, won’t be covering, say, J.G. Ballard and the apocalypse, or gold star hurricanes, or statue disease, or the novels of Rupert Thomson (although they might start covering Mars bungalows – who knows – and the speculative urban futures of global climate change…). But those stories will continue to appear here on BLDGBLOG.3) I’m a little nervous… A new job… another new city…4) This also doesn’t mean that Dwell endorses everything – or anything – that I have to say here on the blog; so if I get something wrong, or if I say something stupid… it’s my fault alone.5) Nervousness aside, I’m incredibly excited about the editorial directions all of this could go in, and I can’t wait to start. I’ve already got a long list of (sometimes absurd) things that I’d like to cover at Dwell, and I really think this is going to be a good time.

Anyway, it’s strange to think that I’m leaving Los Angeles! I thought I’d be living here for at least the next 9 or 10 years, growing cancerous and leathery in the sunlight, throwing events about science fiction and the city, so there are loads – and loads – of things that I’ve been meaning to do here that I’ll now just have to squeeze into less than eight weeks. I’ll miss everything!The desert! Joshua Tree! Zion National Park! Arizona! The Center for Land Use Interpretation! Baja California! SCI-Arc! The Hollywood Hills! Hell, I’ll even miss the ArcLight. And I live right across the street from Sony Studios, so nighttime walks past huge, well-lit hangars inside of which films are being produced will become a thing of my southern Californian past… Anyway, I’ll be in San Francisco starting September 1st or thereabout. And, if you’re in the market for something to read, consider subscribing to Dwell.

David, I’ll be too busy spelunking through the underground lost ships of coastal San Francisco, writing gonzo journalistic accounts of subterranean harbor space… and bugging you to meet up for a cup of coffee.

Thats great. Congrats. I started reading your blog about a month ago because of all the original content. Dwell…I started reading about a half a year ago. The awesome cover design caught my eye one day and I pick it up in the book store every now and then.

Geoff- now I know who to reach out to when I have an article I’d to get publish. congrats – you’ll be great!

beyond the buried ships, there is a who archeology of secret rooms in china town, ghosts in alcatraz, salt works in the bay, and chinese poetry etched into buildings… and you’re closer to skywalker ranch (much cooler then sony pictures/mgm).

wow, congratulations. maybe you can explain the peace dividendic awesomeness that is the Marine Headlands sometime. Not a lot of architecture, but the idea of military control leaving vast tracts of land [sic] undeveloped next to a major city seems surreal to me. Plus, there’s the one lane tunnel entrance, it’s like Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.

I’m with Greg on the “peace dividendic awesomeness” (excellent phrase) of the Marin Headlands. Abandoned bunkers! Who does NOT love abandoned bunkers? There is also the Presidio, of course. And the repurposing of Treasure Island. And the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. All chock full ‘o peace dividendic awesomeness, in their own ways.

Thanks, Moon! And a huge thanks to Blaize, too, for all the tips. Hopefully somewhere, amidst all the new sites and places, there will be a soft landing awaiting us in San Francisco…

Moody, if some kind of leaving L.A. bash does come around, I’ll be sure to let everyone know – but I do genuinely hope that I’ll be spending more time down here in the future, as I really don’t want to leave. But a going away party sounds like a blast. Or at least a going away pub night – which is probably more realistic. We can drink an endangered landscape.

Matt P. – definitely! Let’s do something with those ships! Who knows what – but they’re an amazing resource just waiting to be exploited. So let’s do it. Map them, or find them, or free them – I love it. We’ll unlock them from the earth’s surface and sail to Hawaii. Reading Coleridge.

Glen, great to hear you’re the one doing the second Dwell home; I’d love to meet. I’m in L.A. through August, then San Fran; and I’m at bldgblog *at* gmail, if you want to get in touch.

Same goes for everybody, in fact: my email address won’t change. Though I’m an unbelievably bad emailer – and so I apologize in advance for any time-delay in my replies…

geoff, i used to work a block away from the Dwell offices. that was back in 2003 before moving down here to LA. YOU WILL LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!!!!! and you’ll be very close to the infamous Hunan restaurant… i know it sounds gross, but you must go there and order a “Diana’s Meat Pie” …so yummy! congratulations… i’m jealous now.

congrats geoff– i know we have only met virtually but i wish you the best. only wish i had gotten to meet you in person while you were still in LA! Good luck…maybe i’ll meet you at the pub…i will definitely renew my dwell subscription!

I lived in SF for 13 years, in addition to going to high school there and growing up in the area. I like LA better at this point (better restaurants, later hours, more stuff to do), but SF has lots of interesting stuff as well…and it’s beautiful, of course. I suspect you’ll want to spend lots of time in the Marin Headlands…a veritable omphalos for bunker archaeology. Then there’s the former gravity railroad on Mount Tam, faint traces of which still remain. And Lassen Park is…well, not close, but closer than it is to LA.

Maybe you can get into one of those cylindrical offshore guardposts near the Golden Gate…I’ve always wondered what they were like inside.

Sorry – after thinking about this for a while, I’ve decided to delete the two comments to which my own previous two comments were a response. The now-erased comments mentioned some people by name, and it just seemed inappropriate for that to be hosted here in a public forum.

So: I apologize to the commenter, but I wasn’t comfortable letting those stay. Thanks for your thoughts, though!